After watching the Netflix series Sky Castle and The Glory, I was in an Asian appreciation mood. Korean drama, also known as KDrama, is exceptionally well acted and written. Some people binge watch television programs. I savor them and spread them out, watching one episode per evening. Thus the 20 episodes of Sky Castle and the 16 episodes of The Glory gave me 36 nights of hour plus entertainment. Other Netflix programs do a disservice to Asian culture. Bling Empire and Bling Empire New York are barely watchable demonstrations in poor taste and crass displays of idiotic and vulgar spending. Sky Castle and The Glory by contrast led me to want to celebrate Asian culture with an Asian inspired dinner party.
Hailing from Burma, Andrew is always in an Asian mood, so it took no convincing for Andrew to agree to an Asian theme. I emphasize the word Asian and not a particular Asian culture, because we were originally inspired by South Korean drama, but we pulled in elements from across Asia.
With the Asian theme in mind, I chose things from around the house with an Asian character.
The dinnerware is hand painted Fukagawa Arita porcelain from Japan in the 903 Landscape pattern. We paired the china with place card holders and matching knife/chopstick rests from Argentina. Instead of traditional name cards, Andrew folded origami birds featuring each person’s name written on an outstretched wing. The silver place settings are 18th Century by Reed and Barton. The sterling silver chopsticks were purchased in Hong Kong. Fans are often a feature of oriental artistic expression and provided the shape for our folded napkins.
The table centerpiece consisted of a central red bowl with an azalea plant and Indonesian puppets flanking the azalea. The puppets were a gift from a former work colleague, after her return from a work trip to Indonesia. They are traditional cultural symbols representing the King and Queen. I chose the azalea plant, instead of a flower arrangement, because I could plant it in the garden after the dinner the party.
Our choices of food to serve was fun to select. There are many delicious Asian options. We opted for a simple menu. While we referenced some recipes for ideas, we ultimately did not follow any recipes. We used fresh ingredients and put them together to create the dishes we had in mind.
This is our version of a Mai Tai, a combination of different rums, curacao, almond liqueur, pineapple juice and the special addition of coconut cream. The sterling silver straws each have a Japanese motif dangling from the straw. The Vietnamese Spring Rolls were made using green peppers, avocado, basil, carrot, lettuce, and portobello mushroom wrapped in rice paper, and served with a peanut dipping sauce.
Andrew made a delicious Tom Yum soup with coconut, tofu, lotus root, carrots, mushrooms, ginger and lemon grass.
The main course was a tasty version of Singapore Street Noodles. Andrew combined bean thread noodles with bok choy, carrots, and bean sprouts. Asian cuisine can be flexible, whatever one has on hand can be put together to create interesting combinations.
Dessert was an ube flavored cheesecake with coconut cream piping. The macadamia nut, graham cracker crust was infused with Macadamia nut liqueur from Trader Vic’s. Ube is a special purple colored yam. It has a distinctive taste and gives food a vibrant purple color, which is unfortunately not apparent in the photograph.
Inviting friends and neighbors for dinner is a wonderful way to spend an evening. It is something I enjoy doing and I believe it has further consequence. The recently released poll data from the Wall Street Journal/NROC (University of Chicago) is quite disturbing to me. In 1998, 47% of respondents stated community involvement was very important. The same question was asked in 2023 with a result of only 27% saying community involvement was important. These results emphasize why dinner parties are good way for people to interact and engage. There were only 6 of us for dinner, but we represented people born in 3 countries and from many different backgrounds. Coming together, enjoying a meal, and discussing whatever topics come up is all about community, not to mention the laughs we share from humorous stories and anecdotes. Cheers!
Paul, your dinner parties are always events to remember. So glad that you and Andrew collaborated on this one. Fantastic place settings, creative food, and great conversation! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you, Gayle. You would have enjoyed it. I appreciate your thoughtfulness.
Oh, my, such an exquisite gift, not only to your guests but to all of us readers as well!
Thank you Mary Elin. i appreciate your kindness. You no doubt set a finer table and are a better cook.
Reading through your menu was positively mouth watering. The dining room looks lovely.